Established in 1888 Rathmore have in the past and continue in the modern day to contribute greatly to the Kerry football team. They have supplied some outstanding players to the county for selection such as John Saunders, Tom O'Sullivan, Declan O'Keeffe and Aidan O'Mahony.

Their original residence was known as the "Lawn" it is therefore quite ironic that we should write this article about a Club whose most recent acquisition is a Lawn! We are of course referring to the building of the Clubs new Synthetic All Weather training pitch.

Set back high up from the main road the Club has developed a beautiful site which hosts one of the county's best synthetic training grounds. The design of this project is an example to any Club considering building such a facility.

The surface responds perfectly to ball roll and bounce and the performance of the grass is superb, making it ideal for Gaelic Football. The pitch is contained within a heavy duty rebound fence which is aesthetically pleasing and blends in with the surrounding tree lines and landscaping.

The venue is further enhanced with the inclusion of a very clever system using retractable goals across the pitch and at each end. This minimises the moving of heavy goals in off the pitch and because they are permanently anchored, makes them perfectly safe for use and purpose.

The pitch can be subdivided which allows for different groups to use the facility simultaneously, thus making it available for hire to other outside groups.
The Synthetic All Weather was built by Ireland's leading Specialist Sports Surface Engineers Thornton Sports and is a excellent example of the quality of work the Portumna based company consistently produce.

Dick Ridge Thornton Sports Marketing and Development Manager believes Thornton's ability to continuously turn out first class work is born out of a driven desire to be the leaders in the development of Synthetic Sports surfaces in Ireland. "Thornton's have been building pitches in Ireland for over twelve years during which time we have laid in excess of 400,000 m2 of synthetic grass. We push ourselves to be at the forefront of the industry and invest heavily in specialist equipment and a highly skilled in house work force.

"We are currently working on a full size GAA Synthetic pitch for Dublin City Council, which will be the first full size pitch to be built that will fully comply with the GAA's new code, the laboratory testing has surpassed the GAA's exceedingly high standards. The same system was also tested and certified for Rugby it fully complies with IRB regulation 22 and also for FIFA's 1 and 2 star quality concept.

"We are delighted with the synthetic all weather pitch we built for Rathmore GAA and have received several complimentary comments from the club and several others who have been to visit it.

"Hopefully with the addition of this excellent new facility Rathmore GAA will continue to produce high quality players for their Club and county."

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